The sums collected for the benefit of the family of the policeman who killed Nahel have given ideas to some. Since the disappearance of young Emile, fake kitties have been opened online in support of the family. The prosecution said Friday that it reserved the right to open an investigation for fraud, if they were not closed.
“Emile’s family found that pots had been opened in the name of their child or in the name of the family (…) and they would like to point out that they are not at the origin”, declared the public prosecutor of Digne-les-Bains Rémy Avon. The fraud is punishable by a five-year prison sentence, he said.
“No thesis is privileged, no thesis is excluded”
Regarding the investigation, opened Sunday morning to find the causes of the worrying disappearance, it continued on Friday, but without finding any clue that could explain the disappearance of the child. Little Emile had been seen for the last time on Saturday at 5:15 p.m., by two neighbors, alone, in an alley of the tiny hamlet of Haut-Vernet, 25 inhabitants, at the foot of the Trois-Evêchés massif. He was leaving the house of his maternal grandparents, where he had arrived for the summer holidays.
During a week of investigation on the ground, the 30 houses of the hamlet were visited, the 25 inhabitants interviewed, all the vehicles inspected, and 97 hectares of fields and woods raked. Unsuccessful so far. Accident ? Homicide? Removal ? “No thesis is privileged, no thesis is excluded”, insisted Thursday evening the prosecutor of Digne, confirming that the second phase of the investigation was now open, consisting in analyzing “the considerable mass of data” collected, including telephone data and the 1,200 messages left on the dedicated call line.
The hamlet of Haut-Vernet is still closed to the public, until Monday, following a decree issued by the mayor of Vernet, the village of 125 inhabitants on which Le Haut Vernet depends. “I made this decision to protect families and channel possible curiosity tourism,” explained the elected official.